Top 112 Quotes & Sayings by Patrick Henry

This is all the inheritance I give to my dear family. The religion of Christ will give them one which will make them rich indeed.

Perfect freedom is as necessary to the health and vigor of commerce as it is to the health and vigor of citizenship.

It is a debt we owe to the purity of our religion to show that it is at variance with that law which warrants slavery.

Guard with jealous attention the public liberty. Suspect everyone who approaches that jewel. Unfortunately, nothing will preserve it but downright force. Whenever you give up that force, you are inevitably ruined.

The great object is that every man be armed.

If this be treason, make the most of it!

For my part, whatever anguish of spirit it may cost, I am willing to know the whole truth; to know the worst and provide for it.

I have had many anxieties for our commonwealth, principally occasioned by the depreciation of our money.

The distinctions between Virginians, Pennsylvanians, New Yorkers, and New Englanders are no more. I am not a Virginian but an American.

When the American spirit was in its youth, the language of America was different: Liberty, sir, was the primary object.

We are descended from a people whose government was founded on liberty; our glorious forefathers of Great Britain made liberty the foundation of everything. That country is become a great, mighty, and splendid nation; not because their government is strong and energetic, but, sir, because liberty is its direct end and foundation.

Fear is the passion of slaves.

I have but one lamp by which my feet are guided, and that is the lamp of experience.

Do you remember any instance where tyranny was destroyed and freedom established on its ruins, among a people possessing so small a share of virtue and public spirit? I recollect none, and this more than the British arms makes me fearful of final success, without a reform.

Would any one believe that I am master of slaves by my own purchase? I am drawn along by the general inconvenience of living without them.

Unite liberality with a just frugality; always reserve something for the hand of charity; and never let your door be closed to the voice of suffering humanity.

Are we at last brought to such humiliating and debasing degradation, that we cannot be trusted with arms for our defense?

The Bible is worth all the other books which have ever been printed.

It is natural to indulge in the illusions of hope. We are apt to shut our eyes to that siren until she allures us to our death.

Is life so dear or peace so sweet as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take, but as for me, give me liberty, or give me death!

I have now disposed of all my property to my family. There is one thing more I wish I could give them, and that is the Christian religion.

We are not weak if we make a proper use of those means which the God of Nature has placed in our power... the battle, sir, is not to the strong alone it is to the vigilant, the active, the brave.

Give me liberty or give me death.

The liberties of a people never were, nor ever will be, secure, when the transactions of their rulers may be concealed from them.

Shall we, who have laid the proud British lion at our feet, now be afraid of his whelps?

I know of no way of judging the future but by the past.

The people have a right to keep and bear arms.

. . . Virtue, morality, and religion. This is the armor, my friend, and this alone that renders us invincible. These are the tactics we should study. If we lose these, we are conquered, fallen indeed . . . so long as our manners and principles remain sound, there is no danger.

I know not what others may choose but, as for me, give me liberty or give me death.

Be of good courage, my son, and remember that the best men always make themselves.

The officers of Congress, may come upon you now, fortified with all the terrors of paramount federal authority. Excisemen taxmen may come in multitudes; for the limitation of their numbers no man knows. They may, unless the general government be restrained ... go into your cellars and rooms, and search, ransack, and measure, everything you eat, drink, and wear.

United we stand, divided we fall. Let us not split into factions which must destroy that union upon which our existence hangs.

Human nature will never part with power. Look for an example of a voluntary relinquishment of power from one end of the globe to another - you will find none.

Are we at last brought to such humiliating and debasing degradation that we cannot be trusted with arms for our defense? Where is the difference between having our arms in possession and under our direction, and having them under the management of Congress? If our defense be the real object of having those arms, in whose hands can they be trusted with more propriety, or equal safety to us, as in our own hands?

You ought to be extremely cautious, watchful, jealous of your liberty; for instead of securing your rights, you may lose them forever.

If you have given up your militia, and Congress shall refuse to arm them, you have lost every thing. Your existence will be precarious, because you depend on others, whose interests are not affected by your infelicity.

Show me that age and country where the rights and liberties of the people were placed on the sole chance of their rulers being good men, without a consequent loss of liberty?

Shall we gather strength by irresolution and inaction?

It is in vain, sir, to extenuate the matter. Gentlemen may cry, “Peace! Peace!” — but there is no peace. The war is actually begun! The next gale that sweeps from the north will bring to our ears the clash of resounding arms! Our brethren are already in the field! Why stand we here idle? What is it that gentlemen wish? What would they have? Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty, or give me death!

Power is the great evil with which we are contending. We have divided power between three branches of government and erected checks and balances to prevent abuse of power. However, where is the check on the power of the judiciary? If we fail to check the power of the judiciary, I predict that we will eventually live under judicial tyranny.

My most cherished possession I wish I could leave you is my faith in Jesus Christ, for with Him and nothing else you can be happy, but without Him and with all else you'll never be happy.

It is when a people forget God, that tyrants forge their chains.

I believe a time will come when an opportunity will be offered to abolish this lamentable evil. Everything we do is to improve it, if it happens in our day; if not, let us transmit to our descendants, together with our slaves, a pity for their unhappy lot and an abhorrence of slavery.

This house protected by an armed citizen. There is absolutely nothing here worth dying for.

The eternal difference between right and wrong does not fluctuate, it is immutable.

Are we at last brought to such an humiliating and debasing degradation, that we cannot be trusted with arms for our defense?

Bad men cannot make good citizens. A vitiated state of morals, a corrupted public conscience are incompatible with freedom.

Is the relinquishment of the trial by jury and the liberty of the press necessary for your liberty? Will the abandonment of your most sacred rights tend to the security of your liberty? Liberty, the greatest of all earlthy blessings - give us that precious jewel, and you may take every things else! . . . Guard with jealous attention the public liberty. Suspect every one who approaches that jewel.

Adversity toughens manhood, and the characteristic of the good or the great man is not that he has been exempt from the evils of life, but that he has surmounted them.

We have not yet begun to fight.

[Our Constitution] is an instrument for the people to restrain the government.

The militia is our ultimate safety. We can have no security without it. The great object is that every man be armed.

Should I keep back my opinions at such a time, through fear of giving offense, I should consider myself as guilty of treason towards my country, and of an act of disloyalty toward the Majesty of Heaven, which I revere above all earthly kings.

I shall act as I think my duty requires.

We should transmit to posterity our abhorrence of slavery.

My great objection to this government is, that it does not leave us the means of defending our rights, or of waging war against tyrants.

Shall we acquire the means of effectual resistance by lying supinely on our backs and hugging the delusive phantom of hope, until our enemies shall have bound us hand and foot?

Bad men cannot make good citizens. It is when a people forget God that tyrants forge their chains. A vitiated state of morals, a corrupted public conscience, is incompatible with freedom. No free government, or the blessings of liberty, can be preserved to any people but by a firm adherence to justice, moderation, temperance, frugality, and virtue; and by a frequent recurrence to fundamental principles.

Were my soul trembling on the wing of eternity, were this hand freezing to death, were my voice choking with the last struggle, I would still, with the last gasp of that voice, implore you to remember the truth: God has given America to be free.

The battle, sir, is not to the strong alone; it is to the vigilant, the active, the brave.